Opera introduces faster-loading video in Mini browser for iOS
The Norwegian browser firm has rolled out a new version of Opera Mini for iOS, taking advantage of technology that came in with its Skyfire purchase last year.
The Norwegian browser firm has rolled out a new version of Opera Mini for iOS, taking advantage of technology that came in with its Skyfire purchase last year.
The deal is mainly aimed at combining and enhancing the two companies’ operator offerings, with intended results ranging from new “ad-supported data” capabilities to more cell site capacity and better analytics.
Skyfire, which is trying to become a carrier’s best friend with its data optimization tool, has raised $10 million to expand its service to carriers in Europe and Asia. Skyfire’s Rocket Optimizer can provide 60 percent average data savings for videos and 50 percent for images.
Skyfire is announcing a new mobile browser extension called Horizon that will be implemented by carriers in stock browsers. The browser offers some usefulness but may also be seen as an intrusion by operators into the browsing experience.
Skyfire, the mobile browser maker now working with carriers to tame mobile data, just raised a $8 million Series C round with participation from Verizon Ventures. The funding helps Skyfire expand its Rocket Optimizer product and launch a new browser portal for carriers.
Skyfire is moving into high gear with the next iteration of its Rocket platform, a video compression technology solution for carriers, which brings a host of improvements that should be appealing to operators worried about an explosion in mobile video usage.
Skyfire, which has racked up millions of downloads of its mobile browser, is now poised to announce its first trials with a tier-one wireless carrier in the U.S. The test will establish how well Skyfire can help operators better manage the explosion of mobile video traffic.
Today on the Net: Due to ongoing discussions with regulatory agencies, the Comcast-NBCU merger is going to be delayed until early 2011. Also: a look at Starz’s subscriber numbers shows little evidence of cord shaving and SkyFire has released its Flash video app for the iPad.
Last week, the Skyfire mobile browser brought Flash to iOS, albeit imperfectly. Crushing demand on its servers caused Skyfire to pull the app from the iTunes store, but not before it sold well. Very well — Skyfire managed to make almost $1 million during its first weekend.
You can now get the much-hyped Skyfire browser for your iPhone, which brings the ability to watch Flash content. You won’t get that for free, though, as the price is $2.99 at launch, which is described as an “early adopter price.” So is it worth it?